Nord Quantique, a leading maker of quantum computers with efficient error correction, today proudly announces it has been accepted into stage A of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). The company is one of a handful emanating from around the world which have been accepted into this prestigious program. This acceptance is based on Nord Quantique's advanced approach to quantum error correction, which is designed to progress efficiently to utility scale. This multi-year initiative will roll out in several stages, with companies achieving certain milestones being retained for successive stages and winning contracts based on their performance.

Diraq today announced that it was awarded a Stage A contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to work on its recently announced Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). This initiative, led by the US Government, seeks to determine whether it’s possible to build an industrially useful quantum computer much faster than conventional predictions. It represents a tangible investment by the US Government in progress toward realizing the promise of commercially viable quantum computing systems.

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (“Rigetti” or the “Company”), a pioneer in full-stack quantum-classical computing, announced today that it was selected to participate in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). The primary goal of QBI is to determine if any approach to quantum computing can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033. QBI will use a multi-stage approach, Stages A, B, and C, to assess the proposed concepts, with each stage representing an increased level of scrutiny. Rigetti will advance to Stage A, a 6-month performance period focused on the Company’s utility-scale quantum computer concept worth up to $1 million upon completion of program milestones.

Xanadu, a leading quantum computing company pioneering photonic-based hardware and the quantum programming software, PennyLane, has been selected to participate in Stage A of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), a groundbreaking program launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the United States.

The University of Maryland (UMD) is set to expand its world-renowned faculty in quantum science and engineering following the successful launch of the Capital of Quantum Initiative — a groundbreaking public-private partnership aimed at driving $1 billion in investments. This strategic move underscores the university’s commitment to advancing innovation and leadership in the field of quantum research.

Quantinuum, the industry leader in quantum computing with the world’s most powerful quantum computer, has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense, to participate in the first stage of the agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI).

With the NRW Return Programme, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports young researchers who have ventured abroad from Germany and now wish to return to NRW. A maximum of six grants of up to 1.25 million euros each are awarded annually for five years to establish a junior research group. Paderborn University, together with physicist Jun. Prof. Dr Nicholas A. Güsken, was successful and received one of the grants.

The Albert Einstein Jewish Brazilian Hospital, in the city of São Paulo (Brazil), has launched a project to evaluate the application of quantum computing to develop new drugs, advance the understanding of genomics and improve the diagnosis of some diseases.

IonQ, a leader in the quantum computing and networking industries, today announced that IonQ Forte Enterprise, IonQ’s recently commissioned quantum computer is now officially available to customers globally through Amazon Braket, a managed quantum computing service from Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as the IonQ Quantum Cloud. IonQ Forte Enterprise joins IonQ Aria and IonQ Forte as yet another IonQ quantum computer capable of meeting Amazon's high bar for commercial availability.

Recently, a team of researchers led by Tobias Grass from Donostia International Physics Center in San Sebastián, with the participation of ICFO and ICREA Prof. Maciej Lewenstein, as well as researchers from ETH Zurich, Université de Lyon and TU Dortmund University, has published a Colloquium in Reviews of Modern Physics where they provide a comprehensive overview of these exotic quantum simulators. They cover various platforms, namely those based on atoms, electrons and photons, highlighting both their strengths and limitations. The paper also discusses how these platforms can enable scientists investigate phenomena across a wide range of fields, from condensed matter physics to cosmology.